The Government has been urged to increase Social Welfare payments in the coming Budget by £10 a week for single people and £17 for couples in order to bring these payments up to the lowest EU-accepted poverty levels.
The elimination of poverty must be given priority by the Government, the Conference of Religious of Ireland's (CORI) Justice Commission demanded yesterday, if the EU-accepted poverty line of 50 per cent of average household income was going to be achieved.
Currently, more than one in five of the population received an income below this, and this figure was increasing, CORI warned. The 1999 Human Development Report found that, among industrialised countries, Ireland had the second-highest proportion of poverty among its population. Only the US had a greater proportion.
The resources existed to eliminate poverty once and for all, according to the Justice Com mission. "The outstanding question concerns whether or not the political will exists to allocate the required resources in this way," the commission director, Father Sean Healy, said.
In addition to the Social Welfare increases, CORI is calling on the Government to substantially increase child benefit.